


Under these strange stars

by Hollow and Merciless (HollowandMerciless)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Denial of Feelings, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 12:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16429283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HollowandMerciless/pseuds/Hollow%20and%20Merciless
Summary: Lance feels uncomfortable after the pool incident and prefers to forget it ever happened.But one night, Keith knocks on his door, asking to use his phone.Reluctantly, Lance approves, and this sets a series of events in motion no one could have seen coming, especially not Lance.(Also, Shiro is a bit of a matchmaker)





	Under these strange stars

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, Merciless introduced me to the Voltron universe, which inspired me to write this short story about Keith and Lance. It takes place after their incident at the pool, S2E5.
> 
> ~Hollow~

So afterwards they just denied what had happened. It was all too embarrassing, after all. And then there was that thing with the teludav lenses and Coran’s rather disgusting illness and the question how Zarkon managed to find her no matter where they hid, and after that more Galra attacks, until, so Lance thought, any reminiscence of the event had disappeared to oblivion.  
Boy, was he wrong.  
He was just about to go to sleep, when someone knocked his door.  
“Come in,” he said, absentmindedly, and the next moment Keith appeared in his room.  
“No, not you!” Lance cried, but it was too late, the door already shut behind Keith.  
“I...” Keith uttered, rubbing his thumb to his index finger. His eyes were looking at the floor in front of him.  
“What,” Lance said impatiently, pushing himself on his elbows. “I was about to sleep. Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”  
“Could I use your phone for a sec?”  
“Uhm... why?”  
“I need to check something but I removed the app from my phone.”  
“That thing is personal you know.”  
“Can I borrow it?”  
Lance felt his hand grabbing for his phone, as if Keith was magically capable of retrieving it from where he was standing, and took it to his chest. “No?”  
“Just for a second or two.”  
“I said no.”  
“Please.”  
Keith said please and that was very uncommon. He’d love to hear him say it again. “I’m sorry, I think I didn’t quite hear you.”  
Keith furrowed his brow, a glimpse of impending anger. “I said, can I borrow your phone.” He took a deep, disgruntled breath. _“Please.”_  
“Hmmm. I’m not sure. You surely can’t take it out of this room.”  
“Of course not.”  
It pleased Lance to see Keith’s growing irritation. “I’ll hold it while you use it.”  
“Don’t be a dick, Lance.”  
“And you’re not allowed to see my password.”  
“Fine. Forget it.”  
“Okay,” Lance gave in, he didn’t want him to leave; he was just starting to like this. “You can use it. But I have to warn you.”  
“I won’t scroll through the pics you secretly took of Allura.”  
“You KNOW?” Lance cried, and it took him a few ticks to regain his cool attitude. “Anyway. I was gonna say... We’re on the other side of the universe. There’s no Wi-Fi here. You won’t be able to check the timeline of whatever social media you’re on.”  
“I wasn’t gonna do that,” Keith said, and he strode to the bed, dropping himself more or less on Lance’s legs. “Give me your phone. You can watch too, if you like. It’s not embarrassing or something.”  
Something about the tone of his voice made Lance stop teasing him, and he handed him his phone.  
“I don’t even know if it’ll work,” Keith said. He searched through Lance’s phone and touched the Google Maps icon.  
Lance wanted to make a joke of it and say something pungent, like _Are you looking the shortest way home_ , but, fortunately, he managed to hold it in as he caught the look on Keith’s face.  
Keith switched the map to “satellite view” and zoomed in on the US, zoomed in to the southwest, to the desert, to...  
“...home,” Lance said, softly. Why was there, all of a sudden, a lump in his throat?  
Keith zoomed in until they could distinguish the buildings of the Garrison, and paused, glaring at the image for a long time. “It’s weird,” he said after a while. “That I’m able to zoom in entirely, without a network.”  
Now Lance had to confess. “I saved the image before... before we...”  
“Does it have my house too?”  
“I don’t know.” He sat closer to Keith, peering at the small screen.  
“It’s farther to the west.” Keith moved the satellite image, and gasped when he found the shack he used to live in. “How long has it been...” he said, not really expecting an answer.  
“Couple of months,” Lance said anyway, and it hit him like a brick. “Damn.”  
“I never expected us to...”  
“I didn’t even have a chance to...” Lance said at the same time. He dropped himself back onto his pillow. “It sucks.”  
“Yeah.” Keith put the phone next to him on the blanket, staring into the dusky room. After a quiet minute, the screen went dark and so did the room.  
“What are you thinking about?” Lance said. Somehow he didn’t want Keith to leave yet, although he hadn’t moved.  
“I don’t know. I just...” His voice sounded tired. Not sleep tired, but tired of it all. The next moment a heavy weight landed on his legs, being Keith’s back. “Move aside,” he said, and, to his own surprise, Lance obeyed. Keith wriggled a bit to find a more comfortable spot and stretched himself next to Lance. “Thanks,” he said.  
To Lance’s surprise, the warm body stretching alongside his own didn’t bother him. In fact, it was quite pleasant. The air-conditioned castle could be a bit on the cold side sometimes, especially when they were in deep space, far from any star. It was nice, even though it was Keith. “You’re not falling asleep, are you?”  
“No,” Keith said, a bit drowsy. “I’m too cold to fall asleep.”  
Lance almost invited him underneath his blanket and pressed his lips together to prevent the words from rolling off his tongue. He knew he had to say something, though. “Do you think about home a lot?”  
Well done, Lance. That was about the stupidest thing to say right now.  
“There’s not much left for me there, you know.”  
Yup. Stupid question. Keith had no parents and the only person who ever cared about him since was in this very spaceship with them.  
“Home is where the people are I care about,” Keith added to his thoughts. “And they’re here in this castle.”  
Not for a second did Lance believe that included him as well. “Shiro and...?”  
“All of you,” Keith said, not even annoyed, his voice lingering. “Even Coran and Allura.”  
Now was the moment for Lance to ruin it all. “I don’t believe you actually care about me, Keith.”  
Keith didn’t reply.  
“Keith?”  
Nothing. Keith had fallen asleep. In Lance’s bed.  
Lance raised on an elbow and shook Keith’s shoulder. “Keith,” he whispered. “Hey. You’re not really falling asleep on my bed, are you?”  
But in fact he was. Keith never talked much and he never showed much, and he must have been deadbeat without Lance even realising. He lay down on his pillow again, wondering what to do next. Obviously he wasn’t going to sleep with his rival in the same bed, but he was cold and Keith was warm and before he knew it, he was dozing off.

“Lance!” a high-pitched voice tore the quiet morning into pieces and the next moment the door slid open, revealing Pidge, and, behind her, Shiro and Allura. “Keith is missing and his door was open and you have to help us search...”  
The three of them looked into the dark room from the brightly lit hallway, their bodies blocking the light, so they were oblivious of two boys getting up quicker than lightning. Unfortunately, doing so caused their heads to bang and both groaned at the same time, cursing and immediately unable to hide the fact that there were, indeed _two_ of them in that bed.  
“Keith?” That was Shiro’s voice, surprised but at the same time amused. He stepped back, allowing the light to reveal what should not have happened and what no one should have witnessed.  
“Oh, crap...” Keith muttered, fumbling his head. He was woken up too harshly to fully grasp what was going on, but he did realise he didn’t belong here, in that delicious warmth of the bed he’d apparently shared with Lance.  
“You guys are...?” Pidge snorted.  
“I understand this is not consuetudinary among Earthlings?” Allura asked, entirely serious.  
“Hunk!” Pidge shouted into the hallway. “Come here, you should see this!”  
“Get out!” Lance urged, pushing him to the side.  
“Hey, easy,” Keith grumbled, and he added, softly so that the others couldn’t hear: “Why so prudish all of a sudden? It’s not like you didn’t spoon me the entire night.”  
“Wait – _what_?” He gave Keith an extra push, making him lose balance, and he’d have tumbled if he hadn’t placed his feet onto the floor. He shivered as he got up.  
“I was cold,” Keith explained to Shiro, who was still standing in the doorway, his arms crossed and an annoying smirk on his face.  
“You could have asked for an extra blanket,” Shiro said, stepping aside to let him trough.  
Hunk arrived, unaware of the reason for the early consternation, while Pidge, almost unable to hold her laughter, told him how they found them.  
“Get out of my room!” Lance shrieked, holding up his blanket in a ladylike manner. “All of you!”

Breakfast was an ordeal. The green goo wasn’t that horrible, but somehow today he craved for a healthy bowl of cereal. That was not the worst part of breakfast, though. The worst part was how at least five people were smirking and whispering while totally avoiding the subject. Keith, on the other end of the table, was quiet and more withdrawn than ever. Of course Lance didn’t peek. He knew the others were paying attention to his every move, and he heaved a sigh of relief when Shiro insisted they’d use this day to strengthen their bonds with the lions, and afterwards do some more personal training at the castle. That meant: no interactions with the others, and certainly not with Keith. He thought it best to ignore Keith for the rest of his life.

  
For the most part of the day, that worked. He enjoyed the time in space with his blue lion, and after that he went to the training deck. He intended to improve his sharpshooter qualities, desperate to be good at _something_. The others all had their talents, and he had... well, nothing really. He was good enough at the things he had to do as a paladin, but he wasn’t _outstanding_ , and that irked him.  
The door to the training deck opened upon his arrival, and he heard it before his eyes saw: someone was already there. And of all people, it was Keith, fighting a robot gladiator. Lance cursed internally, but instead of leaving, he found himself glaring at the other boy, following his supple movements with his eyes, cringing when he fell and hurt himself, and silently encouraging him to win from the robot.  
Keith moved agile like a cat, totally in control of his motions, and, Lance had to admit, he was a pleasure to watch. There was suppressed violence in his gestures, dancing around the robot gladiator, exhausting his mechanical opponent. He was so concentrated, not for a tick did he realise he was being watched, which, Lance thought, was a happy circumstance, since he had no idea how to explain himself had he been caught.  
“A sight for sore eyes, isn’t he,” a voice boomed behind him. Coran placed himself next to Lance, his arms crossed. “I watch him all the time. He’s getting better by the day.” He looked down on Lance. “What are you doing here anyway?”  
“Waiting for him to leave,” Lance growled, and he turned around to leave the training deck. A sight for sore eyes indeed. His cheeks were burning, but he couldn’t tell if that was from being caught, or from enjoying Keith’s hips in that tight suit.  
For the second time that day, he decided avoiding Keith for the rest of his life was the best option, and that worked out quite well for the next couple of hours. When he saw Keith crossing the bridge, he hurried to the training deck and spent well over an hour honing his skills as a sharpshooter. He did, somewhere in the back of his head, hope someone was watching him as well, admiring his improvement, but of course, there was no one.

  
He decided to treat himself after finishing the training, being all sweaty and warm, and that’s when the pool popped up in his mind. And of course, _everything_ related to that pool. He hated his brain for making that connection, and more so hated the fact that he wasn’t able to think of anything better to do after training.  
So he went to his room, and lo and behold, ran into the very person he meant to avoid like the plague. And on top of that, he was still wearing that tight suit.  
“Hey,” Keith said, a bit flustered.  
“Hey,” Lance replied, intending to just walk on and leave it with that single word.  
“Where are you going?”  
“None of your business,” Lance said. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”  
“I’m sorry I fell asleep on your bed,” Keith said. “I caused us trouble.”  
Lance agreed it was all Keith’s fault. “Now could you let me do my thing?”  
“I was going for a swim,” Keith said. “Don’t tell me you had the same plan.”  
“Not anymore,” Lance said, relieved to finally reach the door. He slipped into his room, beyond annoyed, and threw his stuff on the bed. “He can’t ruin my plans,” he muttered. “I am going to swim no matter what, and I’m going to ignore him the whole time.” His eyes caught the phone on the shelf, and he picked it up, unlocked it, opened Google Maps and zoomed in on Earth. He knew he shouldn’t have, because that melancholic feeling washed over him again immediately. He dropped himself on the bed, pondering about home... and about how yesterday night actually didn’t feel odd at all, with Keith.  
He got up and took his swimming trunks and a towel, and went to the pool.  
Although he’d been there a couple of times now, he found himself unable to get used to the fact that the pool was upside down. Keith was nowhere to be seen. He’d probably left the pool already, which made him feel equally relieved and disappointed. With a big splash he jumped into the water, shrieking when the cold surrounded him. He liked swimming, he always had. All those summers spent at the sea with his family, barbecuing on Varadero Beach under the stars... _No crying now, Lance._ He emerged from the water, content with himself, no one could see him here, right?  
Except for Keith, who was sitting on the edge of the pool, only his feet in the water. “I can’t believe you just jumped in, the water is freezing.”  
“How long have you been there?” Lance asked.  
“Five seconds,” Keith said. He got up and walked to the other end of the pool. “I’ll stay on my side.”  
For some reason, Lance hated to see him go, although he didn’t mind watching those calves. “No need,” he said, wondering why his cheeks felt so warm despite the water being so cold.  
In short, they had a fun time in the pool together. Apparently, sharing a bed counted as a sort of bonding moment, and he actually enjoyed the company of a guy his age, who was actually as competitive as he was. Keith was a poor swimmer, but tried to keep up with him anyway, and even won a couple of rounds. At long last, they were merely playing, trying to catch one another and pushing water into each other’s direction. It made him incredibly happy to hear Keith’s laughter.  
“I think we should get back,” Keith panted after a while. He held on to the edge of the pool, his chin resting on the tiles.  
“It’s almost dinnertime,” Lance agreed. Or at least his stomach thought so. He leaned on the edge next to Keith, their elbows only an inch apart. “But first...” He was not entirely out of breath, but reluctant to leave the pool anyway, and pretended he needed a break. Almost unnoticeably, he came closer to Keith, until their elbows touched.  
“Time to get out,” Keith said, his expression unreadable. He resembled a cat again, given the speed and agility at which he left the water.  
Lance followed him with his eyes, but was distracted by a happy yell from the other direction, followed by what seemed to be an exploding sea mine. The water reached the ceiling and Hunk emerged, laughing away the shock of cold water.  
“Hunk! I was just leaving!”  
“No problem, Allura and Pidge are joining in a few ticks.” He looked suspiciously into Lance’s direction. “You might want to stay?”  
“Erm... no, I really was leaving. I’ve been here for hours and the water isn’t exactly warm.”  
“That’s why I asked the girls,” Hunk tried, but Lance insisted on leaving anyway.  
Only when he’d left the pool, he figured out what Hunk probably thought of that. Casanova Lance rejecting a chance to swim with the ladies? And, to make things worse: after spending the night with Keith? Yup, they’d jump to conclusions all too soon and he felt he had to explain how they were all wrong, but for some reason didn’t and went back to his room to get dressed again.

Duties concerning Voltron and the Galra prevented the paladins to have days off like that for a long stretch of time. Even the events relating to Keith slipped to the background. Being a paladin was exhausting most of the time, sometimes fun and often outright terrifying, leaving no time to ponder about home or a guy you suddenly found attractive. After a particularly busy day, he went straight to his room and fell down onto his bed. The small window granted him a view on the stars, but they meant nothing to him, these weren’t the stars from home. He took his phone and opened the saved image on Maps again, zooming in until he found his last home: the barracks at the Garrison, picturing what it looked like again, what it was like to walk the compound, and it made him feel incredibly lonely. This was all Keith’s fault.  
He searched for Keith’s house, a couple of miles from the base, in the middle of nowhere. He couldn’t imagine what it was like to live on your own in such a deserted place, at his age. An old man, perhaps, but a guy like him? Keith must have been so lonely. Especially after Shiro had disappeared.  
He furrowed his brow, surprised by the empathy he felt for Keith and the slight envy thinking about the bond he shared with Shiro. On a whim, he got up from his bed and left the room.  
There was no ‘Who is it’ after he knocked, but footsteps approaching. Keith opened the door, frowning when he saw Lance.  
“Can I come in?”  
“Sure,” Keith said, stepping aside.  
“I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Lance said, remarkably meek.  
“I wasn’t doing anything special,” Keith said, although Lance noticed some... thing muffled hastily underneath his blanket.  
Now Lance found himself in the awkward position of standing in front of Keith, in Keith’s room, without knowing anything to say or explain why he wanted to be here.  
Keith seemed to wait patiently, curious rather than disturbed.  
Finally, Lance saw an opening. A literal one; he noticed the porthole and the stars behind it. “I... I was watching the stars,” he said, clumsily.  
“And you decided to come all the way to my room to tell me that?”  
Was that a smirk?  
“They’re the wrong stars. Not _our_ stars,” Lance said quickly, knowing Keith would understand.  
And he did. His eyes lowered to Lance’s hand, which was still holding the phone. “You’ve been watching that image again.”  
Lance felt a bit vulnerable, but nodded anyway. “Didn’t mean to bother you.”  
“You said that already.” And a bit softer, he added: “I miss Earth too.”  
This was going nowhere. Lance had hardly ever felt this uncomfortable before. “Well... thanks. I don’t feel so lonely now.” He tried to smile, but not too much, and left the room.  
Well done, Lance. He wished he could kick himself. He hesitated in front of his room, reluctant to get in, see that window again, those strange stars. The very thing he did not want to see right now.  
There was only one place to go.

The blue lion sat on its dock majestically, coldly, unapproachable. But as soon as it noticed Lance, its eyes lit up and with a soft, welcoming growl it opened itself up for him. “Hey, kitty,” Lance said softly. “We’re not going anywhere, but I need to be alone with you for a while.”  
He sat down in the cockpit seat, and sighed. “It’s weird, Blue,” he said softly. “I don’t know what’s happening to me. I’ve never felt like this before.” He leaned back, folding his hands on his stomach. “You have no idea what I’m talking about, are you?” He wanted to say the words out loud, but even in the shelter of his lion, the words wouldn’t come out. The words “I think I’m falling in love with a guy”.  
There were other words though. “I wish I could spend another night with him. Hold him...” His voice faded away, and a curse escaped his lips.  
Feeling like this drove him mad. This wasn’t him. So confused and weak. “Keith...” he mumbled, and after that he stayed quiet for a long time, contemplating how to live the rest of his life with this new knowledge about himself.

In another part of the castle, someone was listening. The voice in his radio was hardly audible, but the words were clear – and rather shocking. _He doesn’t know his radio is on._ He sat back in the chair in the cockpit of his lion, closing his eyes, unknowingly mimicking Lance’s stance. _I hope I’m the only one who heard this. The others might be too eager to mock him._

Early the next morning, sleepy paladins were gathering as Allura had sent for them because of a distress signal somewhere in space. Yawning, Lance ogled Keith, only briefly, but what he saw irked him immensely. He was walking way too close to Shiro, and they were in a whispered conversation, heads leaned into each other’s, almost touching. From where he stood, he could only see Shiro’s face, and the warm expression on his face almost made him sick. He didn’t hear a word Allura said. Allura, that otherworldly beautiful woman he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off for weeks, and who’d continued to reject him to the point of him not even wanting her anymore.  
He peeked at Keith again, and met Shiro’s eyes. Eyes that revealed nothing but a lack of sleep. What had he and Keith been whispering about? All those little secrets they shared. Lance envied the natural way they interacted, their shared history, their closeness.  
“Lance,” Allura’s regal voice woke him from his thoughts. “Hurry. You have to be ready once we emerge from the wormhole.” Oh shit, the others were gone already.

They were sent to a rather hostile planet, the inhabitants under attack by a couple of ships from the Galra fleet. Nothing unusual, really. But something unexpected happened. Something distracting he chose to ignore, afraid the others would notice.  
He couldn’t stop thinking about it once they were back at the castle. He chose not to leave his lion right away, totally not mentally prepared to face the others again.  
“You know, Blue, this is getting on my nerves.”  
“Did you feel it too?” His radio cracked, making Lance jump.  
“Turn off your radio! I wasn’t talking to you!”  
“But you were, earlier.”  
Earlier, that was while forming Voltron. As usual, he felt connected to the others while forming Voltron. But there was something else as well... and it scared the shit out of him.  
“You did feel it, didn’t you?” Keith insisted.  
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Lance said, removing his helmet and shutting off the radio. He was shaking, to be honest, because not only was he going to deny ever having felt that kind of connection through their lions, he was also shocked his radio had been on. And if someone could hear him now, did anyone hear him _then_? That was the most embarrassing thing ever. He hopped off the lion and rushed to the lounge, pleased to find only Hunk and Pidge.  
“Hey, Lance, you look worried.”  
“Tired,” he said, crashing down on the seat. “Just ignore me.”  
He closed his eyes, but moments later the door to the lounge opened and a set of footsteps entered the room.  
“Hey team, where’s Keith?”  
Thank god it was Shiro. Oh no, it was Shiro.  
“He’s still with his lion,” Lance said, not even opening his eyes. _And he’s all yours. I know what’s between the two of you._  
“Could one of you get him for me? I need to get to the bridge. Lance.”  
That was enough to kill any remains of good mood in Lance’s system. “Yes sir.”  
It was a long, slow, reluctant walk to the red lion’s bay. There was nothing to look forward to. Facing Keith now was like walking into a dead end.  
He just appeared from his lion. A curious look appeared on his face as he discovered Lance. Curious, and _interested_. No, Lance thought. I did _not_ come here to talk about _that_. But this was an important moment anyway. The moment of truth. His heart raced as he studied Keith’s face, and he spoke the decisive words: “Shiro is looking for you.”  
He was expecting a smile. Relief. A gush of delight.  
Instead, a glimpse of disturbance slipped over Keith’s face. Only brief, but enough to confuse Lance. “Okay, I’ll go see him.”  
“He’s waiting for you at the bridge.”  
It was as if Keith hesitated for a second, as if he wanted to say something, but he shrugged it off and left the dock.  
Lance had no business in the red lion’s dock. He should have thought of that earlier, because now he had to follow Keith. It didn’t take long before Keith slowed down, waiting for Lance to catch up.  
“I know it made you feel uncomfortable,” he said.  
“Yes, it did. Don’t bother mentioning it ever again, okay?”  
There was pain in Keith’s eyes now, rejection. “Okay.”  
That was when Lance realised he’d made a terrible mistake, and there was nothing he could do to fix it. Keith didn’t open up easily, and he’d rejected him just like that. No chance Keith would ever open up again.  
To him, at least.

The next couple of days, he kept his distance. Not just to Keith, but to everyone. It was Hunk who knocked on his door.  
“Lance, what’s the matter? You’ve been quiet lately. That’s not you.”  
“Homesick,” he said, knowing half a lie was more credible than a whole one.  
“I know,” Hunk said, sitting down on Lance’s bed. On the very same spot where Keith had been sat.  
Lance swallowed. “I... you know that feeling, Hunk? When you’ve got something and you don’t realise its worth until you lose it?”  
“Yeah... I pretty much took Earth for granted.”  
_I wasn’t talking about Earth_ , Lance thought, but instead he said: “I saved a satellite image on my phone.”  
“Of Earth?”  
“The Galaxy Garrison,” Lance said. Maybe watching that photo again, but with someone else, could make the morose feeling disappear. He took his phone and showed Hunk. “Look.”  
“Oh, wow,” Hunk said, as he took the device from Lance’s hand, zooming in. “Look, our building... and... wow.” He looked up. “Did you show the others?”  
He honestly didn’t know how to answer, and shrugged.  
“Doesn’t feel comfortable, huh,” Hunk said, patting his shoulder. “Got to keep up the cool attitude.”  
“Yeah,” Lance said.  
“Oh, come on, Lance, you’re almost sobbing. I bet you’re watching that pic the whole time.”  
Hunk knew to say the right thing in every situation. Of course he was sobbing. But not because of that image. Hunks arms around his shoulders were like two warm pillows hugging him. For a moment, he leaned in, enjoying being comforted. “Thanks, buddy.”  
“It’s okay,” Hunk said, a bit upset as well.

Why did this feel so much less awkward with Hunk? Lance lay on his bed, hands behind his head, watching the alien stars from the small window in his room. His mind wandered off, replaying the situation again, but this time it was Keith instead of Hunk, Keith hugging him as he was sobbing. There it was again, that lump in his throat. Until then, he’d refused to think about that moment in the lions, that instant when he felt the usual connection to all the others, but on top of that a deeper bond with Keith.

In one of the other rooms, someone was watching those same stars. He got up, restlessly, and left his room. There was one person he needed to speak, and it couldn’t wait until the morning.

The Castle of Lions travelled through space and Lance was, as always, surprised how the skies were always dark, even during what they’d call daytime. He longed for blue skies and one single sun to warm them, for a sandy beach and his family. He noticed Keith approaching, but chose to ignore him, still embarrassed about rejecting him while, in hindsight, all he wanted was to... bond.  
He remembered their earlier bonding moment, something he’d ridiculed, which he was now ashamed of. He turned away from Keith as he passed him, but glared at his back as he walked away. This wasn’t right. At all.

He went to the lounge, utterly unsettled, but found no one there. On his way back, he ran into Shiro, and felt a sudden need to flee.  
“Lance,” Shiro said. “Do you have a minute?”  
“Well...” He didn’t really have anything better to do. “Sure.”  
“Not here,” Shiro said, leading him to one of the quiet hallways. “Lance, I don’t want to discuss this with you in front of the others, but I’ve got the feeling you’re not willing to team up with the rest.”  
“It’s just...”  
“If you’ve got a problem with Keith, I want you guys to sort it out. We can’t act as a team when there’s a problem between two of us.”  
Lance finally understood. “Keith has talked to you.”  
“Actually... he hasn’t. He’s not the talking kind.” He even smiled a bit.  
“But... how do you know?”  
“You’ve been avoiding him like the plague lately,” Shiro said. “So I’ve asked him if something happened.”  
Lance gasped.  
“He was reluctant to disclose anything,” Shiro continued. “Even to me.” His expression softened. “But Lance... you should be more attentive whether your radio is still on.”  
“He told you?”  
“No.”  
It took Lance a few ticks to realise. “ _You_ heard me the other day...” Why was the floor moving? And why was it suddenly so warm in here? A nervous sound escaped his lips.  
“Hey... don’t worry. I’d be the last one to judge. But instead of avoiding him, you owe him an explanation.”  
“I don’t owe him anything!”  
“You do, though. Even if spending the night was a mistake, he did nothing to deserve you evading him.”  
“You’re always protecting Keith.”  
“I’m all the family he’s got,” Shiro said. “He’s like my little brother.”  
Somehow, that was a relief so huge to Lance, it brought a smile to his face. “I’ll talk to him,” he said. “I’ll try to be nicer.”  
“Good,” Shiro said, patting him on the shoulder.

There he was, having made a promise he wasn’t sure he was willing to fulfil. He decided postponing wasn’t so bad, talking to Keith could clearly wait until after dinner. And after that he believed the time wasn’t right either, so waiting until everyone else had gone to bed was even better. As the night continued, he got tired and chilly. His hoodie however, was nowhere to be found and he couldn’t remember where or when he’d taken it off. It took him a while to recall talking to Shiro, and how warm he’d suddenly got as he realised he’d been overheard while expressing his deepest feelings. _I must have left it in the hallway then._  
It wasn’t. He decided not to wait for the others any longer, and went to his room.  
On his way to the door, he passed Keith’s room, finding the door closed. _I might as well..._ He had no idea if Keith had gone to bed already. In fact, he hadn’t seen him since supper. He quietly opened the door, and slipped in. And there he was, fast asleep... curled up around Lance’s hoodie.  
Several thoughts tumbled through Lance’s mind, varying from “Where did he find that” to “Why is he sleeping so early”, but also “I’m cold but I can’t get my hoodie back if he’s lying on it”. For a few ticks, he stood motionless, unable to decide what to do now. A final thought came up. _Why did he take my hoodie to his room... to his bed?_  
Of course he didn’t want to wake him. Let alone ask him. But in spite of that, his feet took him to Keith’s bed. And as he stood there, hovering over the sleeping boy like some night spirit, he suddenly remembered what Keith had been trying to tell him, the things he wasn’t ready to hear – and finally he understood.  
“Keith?” he whispered, gently touching the raven hair.  
He stirred in his sleep, moaning softly. Lance repeated his name, and now Keith started, his eyelids fluttering as he became aware of the person next to his bed. For a couple of ticks, they just gazed at each other, both speechless. Then, Keith raised his blanket, and Lance joined him. No words were required. Lance snuggled against Keith’s warm body, and Keith draped his arm around his chest, spooning him as if this was their daily routine, pulling him even closer. As he closed his eyes, his hand slid onto Keith’s, and he felt Keith’s lips in his neck, whispering something he couldn’t hear, or maybe it was a kiss. It didn’t matter now, nothing mattered. There was no need to talk, no need to explain. Keith understood what he he was going through, because he felt the same. As they drifted off, their fingers intertwined.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!  
> Should I write another chapter? Please let me know in the comments!


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